LATEST BARGAINING NEWS

As of December 31, 2017, even though all HCSS agreements had
expired and MGEU Bargaining Committees were ready and eager to get
going, negotiations had not begun. Employers — including Beacon Hill,
Poseidon, Golden Door, and St. Norbert — were unwilling to schedule
bargaining dates.

One issue is that last year, the government announced they wanted
HCSS workers in each health region to be covered by one union and one
collective agreement — but did not proclaim the legislation (Bill 29)
until recently. During that time, the employers at the private
PCHs refused to come to the table until they knew for sure that their
employees would not be involved in representation votes. Now that the
Bill has been proclaimed, the MGEU will be pressuring private employers
to finally sit down and begin negotiations.

Last spring, the government also announced that they would not
consider giving any public service workers any general pay increase for
the first two years of their new contract. This would include all HCSS
members who work in public PCHs.

Right now, the employers of the private PCHs are telling the MGEU
that since there is no money for the public PCHs, the private PCHs will
not get funding either.

This is not fair. So along with the other unions, the MGEU has formed the Partnership to Defend Public Services. This Partnership will
be challenging the government in court because what they’re doing goes
against Canadian laws – all workers have the right to negotiate a fair
contract, including their wages.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

Overview of bargaining so far

Members of Poseidon Care Centre - Local 81 had the opportunity to share their ideas and proposals for improving the collective agreement at a bargaining proposal meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 2016.

The Bargaining Committee then reviewed these proposals and worked to pull them together into a package to submit to the employer.